Soapnet
This article is about an alternate universe version of Soapnet. For the real version of Soapnet, visit Wikipedia. Soapnet (stylized as SOAPnet) is an American terrestrial digital subchannel, formerly an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Kohrumai Broadcasting Company. The channel airs current and past soap operas, and prime time dramas. History Early Years (2000-02) By the time that Soapnet launched on January 20, 2000, the channel aired only current ABC soap operas in the evening and early morning, so that people who worked and were at school during the day could watch them at their convenience; programming was inclusive, as the channel is owned by ABC. Soapnet eventually gained high cable coverage due to Disney's aggressive policy of pulling ABC-owned broadcast stations and the popular ESPN channels from cable providers if they did not agree to carry Soapnet as well; this was the main reason for ABC owned-and-operated station WABC-TV being pulled from Time Warner Cable's New York City system for two days in May 2000, when the provider was originally controlled by Time Warner.5 When Soapnet was announced, Sony Pictures Entertainment planned to launch a competing cable channel and website called SoapCity, which would air all of the CBS soap operas and the Sony-owned/produced NBC soap Days of Our Lives. The plans for the SoapCity cable channel were abandoned early in 2000 after Sony failed to secure cable carriage, though the website component remained. Soapnet's inaugural lineup aired current soaps such as All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, along with canceled daytime and nighttime soaps such as Port Charles, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, The Colbys, Hotel, Sisters, and Ryan's Hope. As the years went on, Soapnet tried its hand at original programming, such as Soap Center ''and ''Soap Talk, the latter of which was nominated for several Daytime Emmy Awards, most recently in 2006 for Best Talk Show Host(s). Soap Center, which debuted the same day as Soapnet's launch, was initially hosted by former soap stars Brooke Alexander and David Forsyth. They were replaced the following year by Peggy Bunker discussing soaps taped on the East Coast and Tanika Ray discussing West Coast-based soaps. By 2003, Bunker was let go; soon after, the show ceased filming original material. Other original series included 1 Day With, a half-hour program featuring interviews with soap actors, that was hosted by General Hospital actor Wally Kurth; I Wanna Be a Soap Star, a recurring reality series in which twelve young actors compete for a contract role on a daytime soap; and Soapography, a 30-minute show profiling the lives and current shows of two different soap opera actors. Programming Expansion (2002-10) In 2002, Soapnet began airing reruns of Dynasty, and, by 2003, the channel added highly requested programming, such as reruns of Another World and Dallas, replacing Falcon Crest, The Colbys, Hotel, and Sisters. In 2004, Soapnet acquired the rights to broadcast Days of Our Lives episodes on a same-day basis. The channel also aired the 1975 to 1981 episodes of Ryan's Hope, which had not been seen on television since its 1989 cancellation by ABC. At that time, many viewers who did not have Soapnet at its inception petitioned to have the channel broadcast the show from the very beginning. In 2003, the channel aired the first episodes starting on St. Patrick's Day. In 2004, Soapnet acquired reruns of the short-lived 1980s soap Paper Dolls. In January 2005, the channel began airing reruns of the Fox dramas Beverly Hills, 90210 and''Melrose Place''; this was followed that spring with the addition of repeats of short-lived nighttime soaps The Monroes and Skin. In July 2005, it picked up the Fox primetime soap''Pasadena'', including nine episodes that were not aired during the show's initial run. In February 2006, Soapnet added its first foreign-made soap, the Channel 4/E4 series''Hollyoaks''. On March 16, 2006, Soapnet announced that it had acquired the rights to broadcast same-day episodes of The Young and the Restless, which began airing on Soapnet on April 24, 2006 – making it the first CBS network soap to air on the channel. Since the channel was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, it also broadcast events from the annual ABC Super Soap Weekend, which was held every November at Walt Disney World, and each summer at Disney's California Adventure until the event was discontinued in 2010. Soap Talk hosts Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway served as hosts for question and answer sessions at the events, allowing fans to ask questions to their favorite soap stars. Some viewers complained about what they viewed as an overabundance of prime-time programming on the channel, some of which (90210 and Melrose Place) had ended their original broadcast runs only a few years prior and had been repeated on other networks. These fans also objected to the large amount of new episodes of the ABC lineup and Days of our Lives, and repeatedly requested rebroadcasts of old daytime soaps such as Loving, The Edge of Night, Santa Barbara, and Search for Tomorrow. On February 7, 2007, Soapnet acquired the rights to air reruns of The O.C. and One Tree Hill. The syndication deal also gave Soapnet an option to order a fifth season of One Tree Hill to air on the channel in the event that The CW chose not to renew the show6 (this option was never exercised as first-run episodes of One Tree Hill remained on The CW until the series ended its run in 2012). In November 2007, Deborah Blackwell stepped down as general manager of the channel with then-ABC Daytime president Brian Frons assuming her duties. In August 2008, it was revealed that Soapnet had lost the broadcast rights for both Dallas and Melrose Place; both shows left the schedule that September. In 2009, the channel started to further expand its acquired programming; it began airing Greg Behrendt's Wake Up Call, a program that was originally set to air on ABC during the 2006–07 season. After airing the CBC Television series MVP (which was canceled by the CBC due to low ratings) in 2008, Soapnet also acquired the rights for the American broadcast of the Canadian dramedy Being Erica (which began in January of that year on the CBC) beginning in February 2009. According to Nielsen Media Research, Soapnet was available to 75,259,000 cable and satellite subscribers in December 2010, an increase of 4 million subscribers from May 2009. Movies In late 2008, the network entered into a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television to air a package of recent films from the studio's library and some archived content on weekend evenings, along with several 20th Century Fox films and some in ABC and ABC Family's telefilm archive aimed at the network's target audience. Resurgence In 2010, SOAPNet was rumored to close it's doors (mainly due to the soap opera industry in general dropping in popularity), but Disney put the rumors to rest when they announced that they will continue to support SOAPNet and by 2014, with Vault Disney launching at the same time, SOAPNet became the fastest growing subchannel that year. In September 2015, Disney announced that they had sold SOAPNet to Kohrumai Broadcasting Company. Under KBC's leadership, SOAPNet began airing soap operas that also air on KBC. Affiliates If you wish to join Soapnet, feel free to do so. Keep in mind that this list is in alphabetical order. Category:Fictional television networks Category:Television channels and stations established in 2000 Category:Kohrumai Broadcasting Company